One thing about Murray...

[slag]

Doesn't say what down it was.

[slag]

Yeah, you actually do need to know, but keep running with that snark.

[slag]

Or the time in the game.

[slag]

Or the position on the field.

[TerpEagle]

Yeah, you actually do need to know, but keep running with that snark.

Oh, come on slag. Someone puts up stats, your immediate response is that they are useless without...

And even if you don't know the specific down, distance, etc. for every single run - how large of a sample size do you require to have a general comparison?

Regardless, I even said later that a lot of that stuff may not have much bearing on performance this year at all. The primary difference is that Murray is more of a straight ahead runner than McCoy.

I'm willing to bet overwhelmingly that the downs for most of those runs were 2nd or 3rd with a lean towards 3rd. How does that change the way you view the comparison, anyway? Explain why knowing the specific down matters, I curious.

[TerpEagle]

Or the position on the field.

Explain how each of those criteria would shift your view of the stats.

[AnnapolisEagle]

Or the position on the field.

You can use this tool and nerd out to your heart's desire:

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/play-index/

Or you could just go ahead and acknowledge that Murray has *generally* been more effective in short-yardage situations and less prone to feast-or-famine runs than McCoy.

I think the statistics back up that anecdotal narrative.

[slag]

If you don't understand that stats without context are misleading I can't help you.

[slag]

Stop being an intentional dolt.

You know damn fucking good and well that the defense is playing different on 2d and 1 on the first drive of the game from the offensive team's own 30 than it is on 3d or 4th and one with 3 minutes to go in a tie game at midfield.

[AnnapolisEagle]

I need to know!

Obviously, what happened before 2015 may have no bearing on this year but the idea of switching from a strikeout/homerun style to a singles/doubles style is intriguing.

This is sort of it, I think. I don't think there'a HUGE difference between them (except that Shady has been healthier, which is no small matter), but their running styles are different.

My impression is that sometimes McCoy sacrificed the 3-yard gain in hopes of getting a 60-yard gain. That appears to be less of an issue with Murray.

I'm in no way trying to belittle McCoy's career here. Dude was amazing. And a lot of times, he made chicken soup out of chicken shit. There's definitely a possibility that we'll regret losing him if Murray gets penned up behind the line a lot.

[slag]

I don't need stats to know that Murray is a banger and McCoy is better at making people miss in space.

[TerpEagle]

If you don't understand that stats without context are misleading I can't help you.

Obviously I understand that, but given the stats you've been shown explain how the additional information you want is going to strongly influence your opinion.

If you want to get down to very specific instances, do stats even matter? There are so many variables that you can throw them out for a given case.

What they show is that overall, Murray appears to be as good or perhaps better at picking up short yardage.

[slag]

Because it doesn't show the success of the players in situations when it would be easier or harder to have success.

[slag]

And BTW - the conditions are also of some note, considering each players' home fields.

And more to the point ... I don't need stats to know the styles of those two guys and what they're better at.

[McCarthy12]

Nerd off!